the

Interior Castle;

or,

The Mansions

Written by Saint Teresa

(including some of her most interesting letters),

and

Translated from the Spanish

by

The Rev. John Dalton

London:

T. Jones, 63, Paternoster Row

1852

to the right reverend

W. B. Ullathorne, D.D., O.S.B.,

bishop of birmingham

——♦——

My Lord,—It is with the greatest pleasure I dedicate this translation of St. Teresa’s greatest work to your Lordship; and deeply grateful am I, for having received your Lordship’s kind permission to do so.

I know well how devoted your Lordship is to St. Teresa; how much you admire her undaunted courage, fortitude, zeal, and confidence in God, amidst all her immense labours and extraordinary interior trials; and above all, how anxious your Lordship is that the same spirit of prayer, and the same heavenly virtues with which that glorious virgin was so wonderfully endowed, may be diffused more and more amongst all men, and especially amongst those holy religious who have chosen the Lord as “the portion of their inheritance for ever.”

The illustrious order of St. Benedict has produced many admirable contemplatives and writers on “Mystical Theology,” all of whom speak in the highest terms of the works of St. Teresa. I am truly grateful for your Lordship’s approbation of my humble endeavours to give a correct translation of those esteemed works, the doctrine of which the Church herself styles “heavenly.” I also return your Lordship many sincere thanks for your constant kindness towards me, and the encouragement I have so frequently received from your Lordship, to persevere in my humble labours.

May length of days be given to your Lordship, to rule with fruit a hundred-fold over the Diocese so dear to your Lordship’s heart; and may St. Teresa intercede for you, that your Lordship may have grace to imitate her heroic virtues.

Begging your Lordship’s blessing,

I am,

My Lord,

Your very respectful servant,

JOHN DALTON.

Aston, Daventry,

Feast of St. Aloysius,

1852.

Preface

——♦——

I venture to present to the Public another translation from the works of the glorious St. Teresa—one of her greatest and sublimest productions, “The Interior Castle, or Mansions.”* It may not, indeed, meet with the approbation of many whose judgment demands respect, whose experience on the mission is very great, and whose opinions are entitled to every consideration. Some may even condemn the translation of such a work, as unintelligible to the generality of readers, and uncalled for in our present state. They may blame me too, and wish I had devoted my time to the translation of other more useful and interesting works.

I am ready to bow to the decision of those who are my superiors in every respect, some of whom, I am aware, do not advocate the translation of any of the works written by St. Teresa. To state here all their objections, and to answer them at the same time, would perhaps be hardly respectful. And why? Because how far such translations may or may not be desirable, is certainly a subject ...